Dan Miller, who's running on the Republican ballot for Harrisburg mayor, stopped by the PennLive/Patriot-News editorial board on Wednesday for a final chat before next week's general election.

A certified public accountant and Harrisburg's elected City Controller, Miller spent about an hour with the editorial board, sticking to his conviction that Receiver William Lynch's recovery plan isn't the best deal for taxpayers. He also discussed public safety issues and outlined the path the city must follow to fiscal stability.

Later this week, PennLive/The Patriot-News will revisit its mayoral endorsement and some of the pertinent issues in the race to succeed outgoing Mayor Linda Thompson.

Here are the five, main takeaways from Miller's appearance before the editorial board on Wednesday.

1. The city didn't get enough concessions from organized labor as a part of contract negotiations.

While the city was able to obtain concessions from the police union and city employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Miller said he wasn't sure they were enough. And he said the city must cut its costs at the fire department.

"We have to have 17 firemen on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said. "It spikes up our costs tremendously. But there's not a lot we can do about it."

He added that 34 of the city's 35 highest-paid employees worked for the fire department, with the best-paid earning $134,000 a year.

"That's about four times the average household income in Harrisburg," he said. "It's not that we're not paying enough. I think we could reduce that and still pay a reasonable amount. The mayor makes $80,000 a year."

2. On why the Recovery Plan isn't the best deal for city taxpayers.

I think the burden [on city residents] is huge," Miller said, noting that Harrisburg residents will see their utility bills, earned income taxes and parking costs rise as a consequence of the plan.

"I’ve had people who live on the Hill, older women on fixed incomes, they’ve complained the parking will go up. There are many people in the city who are wage-earners, those are the people we need in the city," he said. "If we don’t have wage earners in the city, it won’t prosper and grow. Don’t think the EIT is ever going to go away. What I really fear is that we’ll see what we saw in Scranton and Reading, where EIT is up to 3.5-4 percent."

3. On whether Lynch included enough city residents as he formulated the recovery plan.

Miller said he felt personally excluded from the talks on the plan and compared Lynch to former city Receiver David Uncovic, whom he described as "very inclusive." Miller said he met with Uncovic "a lot when he was coming up with a plan and I think he took my input to heart.

"I called up the current receiver on the first day. And I said we have knowledge. Here we are, we want to help and work," he said. "I met with them a few times over the course of the plan. They haven’t really used us in any significant way."

Uncovic, he continued, was a "very conscientious person. He could see that this whole plan was colliding down on the citizens of Harrisburg. He knew the citizens of Harrisburg were getting shafted by this."

Miller, who owns a business downtown and lives in Uptown Harrisburg, said he feels "safe and everyone has to have their own level of safety."

Despite headlines about crime, Miller doesn't "have any sense that things are worse in Harrisburg." As he did during the primary, Miller pointed to a survey he conducted a few years ago that concluded that people felt safe in their own neighborhoods, but less so in areas of the city unfamiliar to them.

"There is a perception things are less safe than they really are," he allowed.

Miller said much the same about city schools, which he believes are doing better than they are often credited doing.

"We have to do something to combat that — that’s the perception out there. Have to try to change that," he said.

Miller said he supported a tax abatement strategy pursued by former Gov. Ed Rendell when he was mayor of Philadelphia in the 1990s that used targeted abatements to spur development.

Rendell started with "vacant lots and vacant properties," and moved out as those areas became more developed.

"He made sure it was infilled, then coffee shops popped up," he said. "From there, he went to the entire city."

Miller said he's "not opposed to tax abatement at all. I think it has to be targeted and it has to be managed."

6. Bonus Takeaway: He's still a Democrat.

I have not changed my registration and do happen to be on the Republican ballot," he said. "[Eric] Papenfuse is putting it on every ballot that I’m a Republican. That’s dishonesty. Someone who’s willing to do that — what will they do when they’re in office?"